Top 10 Innovative Ice Cream Flavors

Get the scoop on some of the most unique dessert flavors around

By Brynn Mannino

Occasionally, we all scream for ice cream—whether while running after the neighborhood’s Pop Goes the Weasel-blaring truck or on one of the sweltering days of summer. But when’s the last time an ice cream flavor made you want to scream? The extraordinary examples below, including a Blue Cheese and Caramelized Shallot creation and a Curry Carrot concoction, are so unusual in their ingredients and flavor pairings that they’re sure to provoke some sort of reaction from you—whether of pleasure, confusion or just plain brain freeze. That’s the scoop; now, dig in!

Candied Bacon Ice Cream

Curious to see what would result from marrying all his favorite ingredients together, The Perfect Scoop author David Lebovitz got to work combining bacon, eggs and a healthy dose of calories (i.e. butter and half-and-half) to produce this one-of-a-kind creation. After candying thick strips of bacon with a generous sprinkle of brown sugar, Lebowitz crumbled the crispy-sweet strips into a batch of homemade rum-flavored ice cream. Photo courtesy of James Boo/TheEatenPath.com

Curry Carrot Ice Cream

Not Eating Out In New York blogger Cathy Erway adapted this unique dish from a recipe she found in cookbook Asian Ice Cream for You and Your Kids. By putting a Western spin on the volume’s Japanese Curry Ice Cream recipe, she ended up with an icy concoction that combines heavy cream, milk, coconut milk, egg yolks, brown sugar, curry powder, a squirt of lemon or lime and shredded carrots. Photo courtesy of Cathy Erwa/noteatingoutinny.com

Bourbon and Cornflake Ice Cream

San Francisco-based ice cream shop Humphrey Slocombe, owned and operated by chef Jake Godby, has been frozen in the spotlight for their bizarre flavor combinations, including Strawberry Candied Jalapeno, Balsamic Caramel and Pistachio-Bacon. The photo above depicts their “Secret Breakfast” flavor—a creamy vanilla ice cream that’s spiked with bourbon (the “secret” part) and cornflakes (the “breakfast” portion). Godby has been quoted in the New York Times as saying, “There's a whole world out there beyond chocolate, strawberry and vanilla…I'm just trying to have some fun.” We’ll say. Photo courtesy of Food Nut/foodnut.com

Caviar Ice Cream

Sweet tooths be warned: The main ingredient in this scoop—60% white sturgeon Alverta Royal Petrossian caviar—means this dish isn’t destined for the dessert course. The exclusive (and expensive) offering of gourmet French ice cream company, Philippe Faur, this concoction is arguably the most unusual addition to the company’s lineup of 73 impressive flavors. Though only available in France, curious global consumers can get the product shipped internationally in special packaging that prevents melting for up to 72 hours. Photo courtesy of Luxury-Insider.com

Blue Cheese and Caramelized Shallot Ice Cream

This pungent creation made its ironic debut at a book launch for a new ice cream and dessert volume, The Book of Sweet Things. Irish brothers and co-authors Sean and Kieran Murphy set out to showcase a local blue cheese in this groundbreaking dish, which they describe as a flavor only fit for the non-faint of heart. Ingredients include sugar, egg yolks, cream, milk, milk blue cheese (they used Ireland’s Wicklow Blue), banana shallots and butter/oil. Photo courtesy of IceCreamIreland.com

Fig & Goat Cheese Swirl Ice Cream

Mike’s Table—a blog which features the “experiences, experiments and edible things” hailing from Florida-based chef Michael Mulligan’s kitchen—holds the birthright to this creamy concoction. Inspired by the simple yet wonderful flavor pairing between figs and cheese, he created separate batches of fig and goat cheese ice cream, which were then mixed together to produce this gorgeous pink-and-aubergine hued masterpiece that carries the distinct, tangy flavor of goat cheese. Photo courtesy of Mike/Mikes-Table.themulligans.org

Sweet Corn Ice Cream

When Kevin from Toronto grew tired of his uninspired meals and eating habits, he started a blog called Closet Cooking, which became his platform for trying and sharing new and unique recipes—one of which is the Sweet Corn Ice Cream shown above. The simple directions include simmering a whole corn cob in heavy cream and milk for 10 minutes before adding corn kernels, sugar, vanilla extract and egg yolk into a simmering pan; once the substance is suitably thickened, it’s chilled and loaded into an ice cream maker for the final transformation from veggie to dessert. Photo courtesy of Kevin/ClosetCooking.blogspot.com

Soy Sauce Sorbet

Jessica Su’s low-fat creation only has four ingredients: water, sugar, low-sodium soy sauce and orange zest (though vodka is AN optional ingredient that helps prevent the sorbet from freezing into a block of ice). After many experiments, even the innovative chef ultimately decided that soy sauce is a little too odd for desserts, but we still applaud her free-thinking initiative. Photo courtesy of Jessica Su/SuGoodSweets.com

Japanese Black Sesame Ice Cream

The dark hue of this ice cream—set off here by a rosy stick of Strawberry Pocky—is what first turned us onto (or off?) this frosty offering. A creamy, milky and sugary blend of ground and roasted black sesame seeds, the ebony-colored concoction is one of many similar nutty ice cream flavors that’s commonly featured on restaurant menus around Japan. Photo courtesy of JapaneseIceCream.blogspot.com

Balsamic Strawberry Ice Cream

Bi-Rite Creamery is an ice cream shop in California that’s known for showcasing local and organic ingredients in their many icy treats, including ice cream, granitas, sorbets and popsicles. Their flavor offerings change rapidly, due to the seasonality of the local fruits, but on their menu now is a Balsamic Strawberry confection that melds sweet organic summer strawberries from a local farm with a tangy balsamic vinaigrette. Photo courtesy of Jonas/SuperficialFlavor.blogspot.com

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